Teens are so attached to their cellphones that a majority of 16- to 22-year-olds say they would rather give up their sense of smell than tech toys, according to a new study. Stefanie Grewel/Corbis

May 31, 2011

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Technology has become such an integral part of modern life that, given the choice, 53 percent of 16- to 22-year-olds say they would rather give up their sense of smell than their laptops, smartphones, or social networking, according to a McCann Worldgroup's study. And it isn't just American youth: The study looked at 7,000 people in the U.S., Spain, the U.K., China, Brazil, India, and Mexico. Is this a reasonable sacrifice, or have the kids gone mad?

The kids need to get a grip: This is nuts, says Matt Kiebus in Death + Taxes. "I think senses are pretty dope," and if you take away smell, you kill taste. "Learning Morse code and re-learning how to utilize our postal system are better options than never tasting a medium rare filet mignon again." We already knew that email and text messages are stunting our interpersonal skills; now, they're also mangling our priorities."Technology trumps the sense of smell among young people"